Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/85914
Penn State targets juco QB Academics in line, Jake Waters attracts Division I interest RYAN SNYDER | B L U E WH I T E I L L U s T r a T E d Iowa Western Community College quarterback Jake Waters may be one of the hottest junior college prospects in the nation right now. After picking up offers from Akron, North Carolina State and Florida At- lantic all within a week's span, the 6- foot-2, 215-pound signal caller is now being targeted by Penn State. "I talked to Coach [Charlie] Fisher, the quarterback coach, on Tuesday," said Mike Strohmeier, Iowa Western's offensive coordinator and recruiting coach. "We sent film earlier in the year, and our offensive line coach played at Maryland, so he knows the strength coach, Coach [Craig] Fitzgerald, and Coach [Bill] O'Brien. "Then we sent them an updated prospect list with this year's film of some of our guys, and they made it clear that they really like Jake." So far this season, Waters has com- pleted 71.3 percent of his passes for 1,444 yards and 18 touchdowns. With just three interceptions and three sacks, Waters' impressive statistics have plenty of Football Bowl Subdivi- sion schools interested at the mo- ment, making practice at Iowa Western a hotspot for Division I coaches. "I believe Penn State is coming to watch Jake at practice next week," said Strohmeier. "The thing they were really asking was how he can handle the offense. Coach O'Brien's offense, coming from the NFL, it's a bit more complex than [that of] some other schools, so they were really wondering how he can grasp that kind of stuff. "We made it clear that Jake's an ex- cellent kid, extremely smart. He was an academic qualifier out of high school. He just played at an extremely small high school and got overlooked by some bigger schools." While Waters is focusing on his soph- omore season at Iowa Western, he will visit a few schools once he gets the op- portunity in either late November or Rivals.com WATERS' EDGE One of the top junior college quarterback prospects in the nation, Waters is being recruited by Akron, N.C. State and Florida Atlantic, in addition to the Nittany Lions. December. While he's never been to State College, his family has visited, and from the sounds of things, they liked what they saw. "I think he's open to practically any school right now," Strohmeier said. "His older brother played for us and now is a wide receiver at Ohio. I know his mom, his dad and brother [visited] Penn State for the first game against Ohio, and they really liked the atmos- phere up there at Penn State. Jake hasn't seen anything yet. His family got a taste of it, though. We'll see how things play out, but I think he has in- terest in Penn State." During his freshman season at Iowa Western, Waters completed 62.6 per- cent of his passes for 2,659 yards and 26 touchdowns. In high school, he led St. Albert High School in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to a Class 1-A state championship. O C T O B E r 3 , 2 0 1 2 9 PENN STATE RADIO NETWORK WAEB.............790-AM....... Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton WVAM............ 1430-AM.......................................Altoona WRKY.............104.9-FM............... Altoona/Hollidaysburg WILK..............103.1-FM.........................................Avoca WAYC..............1600-AM.......................................Bedford WAYC..............100.9-FM......................................Bedford WISR..............680-AM............................................Butler WCPA............. 900-AM...................................... Clearfield WQYX.............93.1-FM..................................... Clearfield WZDB............ 95.9-FM........................ 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